3 Things for Obama to Do on Vacation

Katie Kieffer

9/2/2013 12:01:00 AM - Katie Kieffer

Reagan took vacations. Bush took vacations. Obama LOVES taking vacations. It would not be so annoying to watch Obama vacation if it did not seem like he’s always vacationing—even when he’s supposed to be working. We are still waiting for Obama’s “big recovery” to recover the jobs and wealth we lost during the recession. (The average American has yet to recover 55 percent of their household wealth since the recession.) For all we know, when he is not vacationing, he is imbibing cold beer and smoking e-cigarettes while the rest of us work our tails off.

Dear Mr. President: The next time you decide you need a rest from all the rest you already seem to get on-the-job, here are three friendly suggestions for how you could enjoy your time off:

1.) If you must to go on vacation, take a hunting trip. You don’t even need to hunt. Have some beef jerky. Play cards at night. Eat eggs, bacon and pancakes with fresh maple syrup and then watch the sun rise from the comfort of a tree stand in the morning. Relax and sip hot coffee from your thermos while you listen to hunters give you a lesson on how to safely clean and store your firearm.

You would benefit from spending time around responsible gun-owners. I think you would quickly realize why you need to start defending the Second Amendment: Guns save lives whereas your executive orders that unconstitutionally regulate firearms simply make it easier for criminals to prey on the vulnerable.

2.) Spend a sunny afternoon during your vacation sitting alone by a quiet stream or a bubbling brook. If you sit there long enough, you will learn a valuable leadership lesson on being flexible and listening to the marketplace. I recently heard a powerful speech by Jill Johnson, president and founder of Johnson Consulting Services. Johnson shared how, as a teenager, she had a "wake up call" when she spent a few hours sitting by a rushing stream. As she watched, it struck her that the water succeeded in reaching its destination by being flexible. Every time the water encountered a barrier such as a large rock or a fallen tree branch in the middle of the stream's path, the water simply moved around the barrier. The water did not try to "change" the rock or the stick; it adjusted its course and flowed around the barrier without missing a beat.

Mr. President, I think that if you sit by a stream and watch how successful the water is—because it is flexible—you too will realize that to be a strong leader and to put our country's economy on the path to job creation you must be nimble. You have spent nearly five years chipping away at a metaphorical rock, trying to change our country—which was founded on freedom, entrepreneurship and faith—into a socialist and secular country.

Your stubbornness in redistributing wealth is getting us nowhere. Your persistence in keeping America's corporate tax rate as the highest among G20 economies is not creating jobs. It’s time for you to humble yourself, become flexible and exhibit a virtue that you tell us we need to exhibit: "The courage to change."

3.) Visit a free country where adults are not treated like babies. Whether you visit a remote island or take a rocket ship to an undiscovered planet, you need to experience how peaceful and happy people become when their government respects their God-given, natural rights and freedom.

The Constitution did not make you the commander-in-chief of cradles. Your job is not to walk around with a basketful of blankies, pacifiers and warm bottles to make us feel safe and comforted. We don’t need you to burp us. We don’t need you to hold our hand when we cross the street. We don’t need you to tuck us in at night and read us a bedtime story. We need you to enforce the law of the land and leave us free to live the way our Maker and our country’s founders intended for us to live: Freely.